I blame system, not judges for my loss at appeal court – Gabriel Suswam

Former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswan, who was recently sacked as the Senator representing Benue North-East Zone, has stated that he does blame the judges of the Appeal Court for their verdict in his case.

the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja said it was satisfied that Suswam was not the valid winner of the senatorial election that was held in Benue North East on February 25.

In a unanimous decision, the three-member Justices panel faulted the judgment of the Benue State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which returned Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the Senate, after it nullified the election victory of Mr. Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Reacting to the judgment during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday, Suswan stated that he doesn’t blame the judges but the system.

“I think that the CJN has a lot to do in terms of bringing the judges to sit down together and look at some of these new statues that have been passed by the National Assembly and assented by the president. It’s not just the electoral act. There are a lot of statutes that have been passed that most judges will be seeing or listening to for the first time when a lawyer comes before them. That shouldn’t be the case.

“It’s expected that, as the interpreters of statues, they should be on top of that game. And so I think that we need to reenergize the judiciary. Listening to what the retiring justices of the Supreme Court said means that they are people who work a lot, and in terms of what comes to them, they’re highly discounted.

“So, there are a lot of issues in this country that we shouldn’t just limit because we lost the election in court and then put the whole blame on the judges.

“Coming to my situation, I won the case at the tribunal. And that’s what I’m saying. The same interpretation, the same section that gave me victory at the tribunal in Benue, was interpreted differently at the Apex Court.

“My concern is that if that continues, the confidence in the judiciary will continue to erode. One would’ve expected that if one judge gives an interpretation of a section, that should flow through; otherwise, confidence in the process is eroding very fast.

“But I don’t place the blame on the judges because, given the condition and the environment under which they work, we would not expect anything much from the judiciary except when their working conditions are enhanced.

“So, I don’t blame the judges on my case, but I blame the system. There’s a problem with the system.”